The Worst Beers in the World, According to the Data

At the most basic level, beer starts with water, malted grain, yeast, and hops. That sounds simple enough, but anyone who has spent time comparing beers knows the results can vary widely.

Some beers inspire fiercely loyal fans. Others get absolutely hammered by drinkers online. BeerAdvocate has collected millions of beer ratings over the years, and plenty of familiar mass-market lagers have ended up near the bottom.

So which beers have received some of the roughest ratings? Using BeerAdvocate’s user averages and its Worst-rated beer pages as a guide, 247 Tempo looks at 20 beers that drinkers have rated especially poorly. The list includes both current and retired beers. BeerAdvocate sorts its official Worst list using a separate weighted rank, so the average user rating shown for each beer does not necessarily match its position on that page.

I remember Red Dog being everywhere in the 1990s, so I’m still a little surprised to see its BeerAdvocate average this low. It was never a great beer to me, but it was an easy-drinking lager that I certainly wouldn’t call the worst I’ve had.

• Brewery: Miller Brewing Co.
• Style: American adjunct lager
• ABV: 4.8%
• Average User Rating: 2.04 out of 5

Keystone Ice doesn’t improve my opinion of the Keystone lineup. BeerAdvocate lists the Canadian version here at 5.5% ABV, and the low user average tells you plenty about how drinkers have received it. That tracks with what I see around my area, where I’ve found plenty of Keystone Ice cans tossed into my yard when lake traffic picks up in the spring and summer.

• Brewery: Molson Coors Canada
• Style: American adjunct lager
• ABV: 5.5%
• Average User Rating: 1.75 out of 5

Of the many beers on this list, Sleeman Clear is one I’ve never seen. Sleeman Breweries is a Canadian brewer owned by Japan’s Sapporo Breweries, which acquired the company in 2006. The Sleeman family’s brewing roots in Guelph date to 1834, while the modern brewery was re-established in 1988.

• Brewery: Sleeman Breweries Ltd.
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.0%
• Average User Rating: 1.85 out of 5

Keystone has always struck me as a budget beer first and foremost. It’s not one I enjoy, and I’ve frequently seen it sitting on clearance racks in my area. Here in Vermont, craft beer gets a lot of the attention, so mass-market lagers like this can feel especially out of place.

• Brewery: Molson Coors Canada
• Style: American adjunct lager
• ABV: 4.9%
• Average User Rating: 1.91 out of 5

I admit that on a hot summer day, I don’t mind an ice-cold Corona Light with a wedge of lime. It was one of my go-to bonfire beers when friends and family gathered. A bottle of Corona Light with lime tucked into the neck and the makings for s’mores spread across the picnic table in our backyard still brings back some great memories.

• Brewery: Grupo Modelo S.A. de C.V.
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.1%
• Average User Rating: 1.98 out of 5

One sip of this and I vowed never again. It blends Bud Light with Clamato Tomato Cocktail, and the combination is absolutely not for me. BeerAdvocate’s user average is rough enough that plenty of other drinkers clearly haven’t been won over either.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: Fruit and field beer
• ABV: 4.2%
• Average User Rating: 1.94 out of 5

That metallic aftertaste is exactly what I’ve never liked about Michelob Ultra. To me, it can taste a little like the iron pills I have to take. Michelob Ultra was introduced in 2002 and built its identity around a lighter, lower-carb profile, which is also what made it appealing to a lot of people I knew who were cutting carbs.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.2%
• Average User Rating: 1.97 out of 5

Growing up in the '80s, this was a go-to beer for a lot of teen boys in my town. At least in my memory, it was also the kind of beer you saw in plenty of dads’ refrigerators and at backyard barbecues. It’s not a palatable beer to me.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.1%
• Average User Rating: 1.97 out of 5

The ice-brewing process chills beer below freezing so ice crystals form during finishing. Bud Ice comes in at 5.5% ABV, noticeably stronger than Bud Light. I’ve never been a fan of the style because ice beers often taste heavier and more syrupy to me.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: American adjunct lager
• ABV: 5.5%
• Average User Rating: 1.95 out of 5

Busch Ice is another of the ice beer selections that I find too syrupy. I’ve yet to find a decent ice beer, and this one to me is one of the worst as Busch is already a bad beer.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: American adjunct lager
• ABV: 5.9%
• Average User Rating: 1.87 out of 5

I didn’t know many people who drank this beer, and I certainly didn’t. It always tasted thin and forgettable to me. BeerAdvocate now marks Milwaukee’s Best Premium as retired, so unlike most of the beers here, it is no longer part of the site’s active rankings.

• Brewery: Miller Brewing Co.
• Style: American adjunct lager
• ABV: 4.8%
• Average User Rating: 1.89 out of 5

Bud Light is bad, but I do have fond memories of it. A late neighbor used to give neighbors he liked a can of Bud Light at Halloween to enjoy after trick or treating with their kids. I miss him a lot, so while I never liked Bud Light, it has a place in my heart.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.2%
• Average User Rating: 1.88 out of 5

Take a beer I already don’t care for and make it lighter, and you get Milwaukee’s Best Light. It’s 4.2% ABV, compared with 4.8% for the now-retired Milwaukee’s Best Premium. It doesn’t taste of much to me, and it just isn’t a beer I ever enjoyed.

• Brewery: Miller Brewing Co.
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.2%
• Average User Rating: 1.85 out of 5

Miller64 was rebranded as Miller Extra Light in 2024, but there wasn’t a new recipe hiding behind the new name. Molson Coors says it is the same beer, still at 2.8% ABV and 64 calories per 12-ounce serving. To me, it still drinks more like a lightly grainy seltzer than a full-flavored lager.

• Brewery: Miller Brewing Co.
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 2.8%
• Average User Rating: 1.81 out of 5

I’m not surprised so many ice beers are on this list. Natural Ice is the first I ever tried, and it left me wondering if it was just a bad representation or if ice beers are just that bad. I’ve never found a good one, so I think it’s just a bad beer style for me.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: American adjunct lager
• ABV: 5.9%
• Average User Rating: 1.87 out of 5

Beer 30 Light is one I’ve never run across in Vermont. BeerAdvocate lists it under Melanie Brewing Company in Wisconsin and shows a relatively small rating pool compared with the giant national brands on this list. Even with that caveat, its average is one of the lowest in this group.

• Brewery: Melanie Brewing Company
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.0%
• Average User Rating: 1.66 out of 5

Coors is not a popular brewery in my house, and Keystone Light is one of my least favorites because it has a metallic aftertaste to me. I used to blame the can, but that explanation doesn’t really hold up when one of my favorite beers, Collective Arts’ Pocket Wrench, also comes in a can and tastes nothing like that to me.

• Brewery: Coors Brewing Company (Molson-Coors)
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.1%
• Average User Rating: 1.85 out of 5

Sharp’s is in the nonalcoholic section at my grocery store, although BeerAdvocate lists it at 0.4% ABV. I don’t find it tasty at all. It tastes watered down to me. If you want an NA beer, I think Athletic Brewing has some much better options.

• Brewery: Miller Brewing Co.
• Style: Low-alcohol beer
• ABV: 0.4%
• Average User Rating: 1.74 out of 5

I dislike Natural Light, though I see plenty of it around here. Anheuser-Busch introduced the beer in 1977, so it has had decades to build a loyal audience, including my husband back in the ’70s and ’80s. That makes its place near the bottom of BeerAdvocate’s current worst-rated list a little funny to me. It’s the kind of budget beer some people genuinely enjoy even if the rating-site crowd is much less enthusiastic.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 4.2%
• Average User Rating: 1.78 out of 5

To me, Budweiser Select 55 drinks more like malt-flavored seltzer than a full-bodied beer. If I’m going in that lighter direction anyway, I’d rather have something like Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher or BBCO’s Wave.

• Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
• Style: Light lager
• ABV: 2.4%
• Average User Rating: 1.66 out of 5